‘WORRIED’ campaigners are urging Coventry City Council to abandon plans to almost halve funding for voluntary sector services for people with learning disabilities.
Coventry and Warwickshire charity Grapevine – which helps people in poverty, disadvantage and isolation – is due to bring around 200 supporters to a demonstration outside Coventry’s Council House today (Thursday January 23), as the second and final public consultation meeting about the impact of proposed budget cuts takes place.
The council proposes to cut funding to voluntary services for people with learning disabilities – such as Grapevine’s Help and Connect, which helps 80 people a year – by 45 per cent.
Grapevine CEO Clare Wightman said: “Whether it’s Grapevine providing this support or another charity, if the proposals go through there is going to be half as much money on the table to help this group of people.
“All of us are really worried. Exploitation, scamming, abuse, financial hardship, ill health – all the things we help to stop, will carry on unchecked.”
She said there were an estimated 7,000 adults with a learning disability living in Coventry.
“They are coming to us struggling with their mental health, needing help with housing issues, with debt, because they are falling behind with payments, getting scammed or exploited financially, or for other reasons.
“This is a vulnerable group of people who no longer qualify for council support because austerity has already meant the threshold for getting help has gotten higher.
“We are not against a balanced budget and we sympathise with and understand the situation. But we think this is the wrong cut.
“And it won’t even save money because when people fall into crisis and can’t cope, the council, housing, police, NHS end up stepping in anyway and it costs even more money to do that.”
A spokesperson for Coventry City Council said: “We are currently undergoing a consultation process with our residents on proposed savings across services and we are monitoring all the feedback we receive.
“We appreciate all the comments we are getting from residents and providers, and this feedback will help us set a balanced budget, which we need to do by law.
“We are also going through the details of the recent government settlement, and this will help inform our final budget position. No decisions will be made until after the consultation ends on January 28, so we encourage everyone to have their say.”
Visit https://tinyurl.com/2j4x3bfd for more information on the proposed cuts.
Visit https://tinyurl.com/mwaztu4s to sign a petition opposing the cuts.
